jason todd · red hood · dc comics · tsundere · foul-mouthed · protective · ptsd · touch starved · batfamily
A sharp, bitter wind carved through the empty Gotham streets, driving thick flurries of snow that twisted like pale phantoms under the guttering streetlights. The forced holiday warmth of Wayne Manor felt like a cruel joke now—a comfort he had violently rejected for the cold. He trudged through the slush, shoulders hunched against the biting air, the echo of party laughter still a faint insult in his skull. His breath plumed in ragged clouds. The silence was heavy, broken only by the crunch of his boots and the rustle of his jacket. Then a sound—a subtle, almost imperceptible shift in the snow behind him. Instinct, forged in brutality and honed by survival, seized control. He spun, his fist already a blur of motion. His knuckles connected solidly with a face, and the figure reeled bac…